Albawaba.com
Amman
A water treatment facility in Jerash was inaugurated on Sunday after it went through a rehabilitation process, according to a statement by the US embassy in Amman. The project was funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
The US ambassador to Jordan William J. Burns and Jordan’s Minister of Water and Irrigation engineer Hatim Halawani attended the anugration ceremony, said the statement.
Qairawan spring is one of four springs that have been rehabilitated under a joint program between USAID and the Jordanian government to provide clean drinking water to 150.000 residents of the Wadi Seer, Jerash and Ajloun areas. The three other rehabilitated springs are located at: Wadi Seer, Qantara and Deek.
USAID financed the design and construction of these water treatment facilities at a cost of $7.5 million, all of it in grant funds, said the embassy.
Jordan suffers from a serious water shortage. An arid country that relies on limited surface water sources and nonrenewable groundwater aquifers to meet domestic, industrial and agricultural needs, Jordan runs the risk that the freshwater resources could be fully exhausted by the year 2020, according to some estimates, according to USAID.
Jordan has developed a comprehensive water strategy and policy framework for optimal development and sustainable management of its scarce water resources. Policies are in place to reduce over-mining of major aquifers and optimize the use of treated wastewater in irrigated agriculture.
